On Thursday, September 17, 2015 from 6:00PM to 7:30PM, Madison Square Park Conservancy’s Mad. Sq. Art will host Poetry Under Fata Morgana, a free, public poetry event showcasing leading voices in spoken word poetry and performance, organized by artist Teresita Fernández and poet Emanuel Xavier. Poetry Under Fata Morgana is conceived to take place under the golden canopies of Fernández’s Fata Morgana, the artist’s shimmering outdoor exhibition currently on view in Madison Square Park. Invited poets include Emanuel Xavier, Sandra María Esteves, Bonafide Rojas, Machete Movement, and True. The program coincides with National Hispanic Heritage Month (September 15 – October 15, 2015) and situates a broad range of Latino experience and literary production within the context of contemporary American poetry.

With both Fata Morgana and Poetry Under Fata Morgana, Fernández wishes to increase visibility of Latino communities in New York City by amplifying the rich diversity and complexity of what it means to be “Latino” as an important aspect of American culture. Fernández emphasizes Fata Morgana’s unique platform as a democratic public space used for communal gathering, contemplation, and free expression. With these collaborative programs, Fernández hopes to expand our assumptions about who exactly constitutes “the public,” the makeup of which is as mutable and fluid as the reflections captured by her sculpture.